A circuit judge ruled a trade of donated firearms by Pope County Sheriff Aaron DuVall legal during a civil trial Thursday brought against the sheriff by a county resident.

The complaint — which was filed in Pope County Circuit Court in February by Harold Tate through his attorney, Robert Newcomb of Little Rock — called for a series of firearms allegedly received by DuVall on June 9, 2009, to be retrieved from those who purchased them at an unspecified date, and an injunction be ordered against DuVall to comply with provisions within Arkansas law “in disposing of property that he received through gift and not as part of a criminal case.”

The firearms, the complaint stated, were donated to Pope County by Timothy C. Johnson and were therefore not available for the sale outside public auction by DuVall. The recipients of the firearms, who are listed on the case file as John Doe 1, John Doe 2 and John Doe 3, “are reasonably believed to be residents of Pope County,” according to the complaint, and were asked in the complaint to return the property purchased.

According to the complaint, 12 firearms were donated as a gift and donated to the Sheriff’s Office, which were then traded by DuVall to a local merchant.

“This was very unusual for someone to bring firearms to give as a gift to the Sheriff’s Office,” DuVall said. “These were firearms that we were not going to use during our patrol units ... these firearms were not in the best condition. They were very rusty, some of them had flaws in them, so they were unsafe to fire.”

DuVall said he then consulted with Fifth Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney David Gibbons, who had a court order for the transaction signed by Circuit Judge Bill Pearson. Once approved by Gibbons and Pearson, DuVall said he traded the 12 firearms for 37 pairs of Blackhawk boots from Wilkins Brothers Outdoors.

“I always wanted to be able if I could supply the deputies with their footwear,” he said. “Each officer got a pair and it was put on their inventory, and if they ever leave the Sheriff’s Office, the footwear stays here. It belongs to the county.”

Newcomb contested the trade should have been handled by Pope County Judge Jim Ed Gibson rather than DuVall.

As Newcomb presented in the complaint and to Circuit Judge Dennis Sutterfield on Thursday, Arkansas State Statute 14-16-105 states any property sold by the county must be done by the county judge and through a strict procedure that requires the judge to cause an order to be entered in the county court setting forth a description of the property and the reason for its sale.

The statute later states, however, that its procedures for the sale and conveyance of county property shall not apply “when personal property of the county is traded in on new or used equipment and credit approximating the fair market price of the personal property is given the county toward the purchase price of new equipment.”

Matt Wilkins, chief financial officer of Wilkins Brothers Outdoors, said the boots, which were sold at a discounted price to the Sheriff’s Office per approval by the footwear’s manufacturer, were valued at $6,289.63. He added that several of the guns were auctioned off, and the few guns that didn’t sell were appraised.

“What we sold the guns for plus the certified appraisal equal about $3,300 in value,” Wilkins said.

DuVall said the county benefited from the trade.

“The county did not lose this one as far as the trade,” he said.

Sutterfield ruled because the statute requiring the county judge to sell county property via a public auction, but does not apply to trade transactions, Tate had no cause of action against DuVall in his capacity as Sheriff.

“How the judge interpreted the statute was that the statute’s exemption is so broad that it bascially vicerates the rest of the statute,” Newcomb said. “So basically if any county person wants to trade in the property of the county, they can.”

DuVall said he hopes claims that surfaced in 2010 surrounding the legality of the trade will be silenced by Sutterfield’s ruling.

“We’re very thankful for the judge’s ruling,” he said. “We’re just glad it’s over with.”